Don. 1. yes, the persistent storage makes sense now.
2. Will do on the reviewing of essential documents. 3. Yes, the fog is clearing now on the VMWare thing. Its now forming into a tangible concrete concept in my head rather than a collection of abstract terms. 4. Thank God its only a one time job. It seems very involved, and that's probably because this is the first time I'm doing this. (Smile). Thanks for the explanations as its now seeming more and more feasible. If you don't mind, please give me a few days to read this stuff and hopefully I will have less basic questions to burden you with. Thank you for your time and effort, Andre ---- Original Message ----- From: "Don Marang" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:01 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux Don't look at as wasting my time. Understanding typical user questions and difficulties helps me generate instructions that are more useful to a larger number of people. 1. To tell you the truth, I had never heard of persistent storage used as a term before either. However, I understood the concept, I probably would have called it something else. The live CD and DVD have no persistent storage. They still let you install some software or data files, but it completely disappears when you turn off the computer. The only exception is if you locate your internal hard drive or external hard drive and write data files to them. Both the CD/DVD or USB Flash drives squash their file systems, which is similar to compressing like zip files and decompress as needed when operating. The persistent storage on a Flash drive, to my understanding, is a large file on the Flash drive, which holds user data which remains in between sessions. It looks to the user as the same file system as would be on an installed hard drive. However, under the covers, the main part of the filesystem is actually squashed and the user files and packages installed after creation of the Flash device, are packed inside that large file of persistent storage. To the user, it just appears as if they can "permanantly" save 2 or 4 GB of new data / packages. Did that confuse you more? 2. The instructions I sent you a link to earlier was a link to an article on the Vinux Wicky. A Wicky, just like the wickopedia site, is an area where the Vinux user community contributes tips and tricks on Vinux. We have just gotten started, but there is a lot of great info there already. Take a little time to look around! 3. Actually, the following is more accurate, tell me if this is understandable. You need to install the VMware Player software onn your computer. This creates an environment inside your computer that makes entire Operating Systems, like Vinux run inside a single window of Windows 7 (or XP). The Vinux Operating System is called a guest but thinks it is running on it's own physical computer hardware. It happens to have only half or less RAM, a fraction of the hard disk space, and a slower processor! This is because these resources need to be shared between the Windows host and the virtual Vinux guest. The guest virtual hard disk is merely one or a group of very large files on the physical hard drive. Wow, I did not plan to go offf on a tangent like that. If you downloaded the Vinux Virtual Edition from the Vinux Virtual World site, it includes the VMware software, the Vinux virtual hardd disk and configurations, and instructions. It does not run in RAM, it thinks it is installed on a hard drive. It just happens to be virtual. Then you change all of the settings the way you like, install extra software, and perform a 'sudo remastersys backup', which creates the live, bootable ISO file. Take the ISO file and burn it to a DVD and or use it to create a USB Flash drive using the Windows creation tool. It is possible to create the USB drive directly in Vinux, but I sometimes have trouble getting persistence to work using that tool. 4. This should be a one time adventure. Like the live CD, it should adjust to a large variety of hardware. Don Marang There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter. Dean Kamen -------------------------------------------------- From: "Andre Williams" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 11:43 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux > Don. Though I really want to learn what you have to teach, I don't want to > become another burden on you. I will try to look up as much as I can then > come back to you if I still don't understand. I'll start with presenting > you > with yes or no questions. (Smile). > > 1. You have repeatedly mentioned persistent storage. I found the following > definition below, but am I correct in that it means information that is > held > in ram then disappears when computer is shut off? > Web definitions for Persistent storage > Persistence in computer science refers to the characteristic of state that > outlives the process that created it. ... > > 2. Is the vinux wiki a reference to the tutorial link you provided? > > 3. Is the following process correct... > I will have to create then load the Vinux operating system via a virtual > machine in ram. > Then create a bootable Cd of this image. > then I will load this image before windows loads, and I can begin > restoring > my image created with Image for windows? > > 4. Will this be a one time thing, or will I have to go through this entire > process whenever I add new hardware and such to my computer? > > Andre > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Don Marang" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 8:20 PM > Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux > > > Well, you are not in danger of learning something antiquated here! Both > Vinux 3.0 and Vinux 3.1 are just at the start of their supported life > cycles. Yes, a USB Flash drive is nicer in my view because it is faster > than a DVD and can have persistent storage. I preferred to start with the > instructions posted on the Vinux Wicky since I am familiar with Virtual > Machines. I also prefer this method of preparing my custom backup ISO > file > because it can easily be burned to a DVD, used directly to create a USB > Flash drive and stored away for later use. I attempt to maximize my > available storage by pushing all of the newly installed packages into the > squashed file system of the USB Flash drive. This is probably not > necessary, and may not even effect performance? > > As I said earlier, it should be possible, to create a USB Flash drive > using > one of the Vinux DVD editions using the instructions contained within the > Windows USB Creator program. Then the Image for Linux and the other Linux > rescue packages can be installed into the persistent storage. This can > probably be made to fit on a 4 GB Flash drive by specifying 2048 > persistent > storage. I normally have 8 GB Flash drives around and specify the maximum > 4096 persistent storage. There is no way to create a DVD from this > device, > which can be nice for certain computers. There is also no way to keep a > spare ISO file around to quickly replicate. However, it should be > possible > to backup the USB Flash drive. by just using the 'dd' command properly. > > When I get the time, I will attempt to generate similar instructions for > directly creating a Vinux Rescue USB Flash drive. It would expand on the > previous paragraph. > > When I use terminology not familiar to you, just call me on it with > specifics, and I will attempt to expand on the topic in basic terms. I > tend > to shorten many explanations, since I only have one hand to type. This is > especially true regarding articles on the Vinux Wicky. > > Don Marang > > There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any > real > substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am > working > on things that matter. > Dean Kamen > > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Andre Williams" <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:34 PM > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux > >> Don. Given this new information as compared to your post a few days ago, >> which set of instructions should I pursue? I want to try this Vinux, but >> I >> gotta say the lingo and obscure terminology is turning me away. I'm not >> going to give up on it without giving it a shot, but there is so much >> information that I don't know where to begin and I would hate to invest >> tons >> of time on the wrong choice or an obsolete version. I feel like I will >> end >> up learning Windows 95 when I should really be seeking out information >> relating to windows 7. I guess I'm asking for specifics in terms of what >> to >> begin reading. Because Thumb drives can be red much faster than DVD >> disks, >> I'm thinking I should focus my efforts in installing Vinux on a thumb >> drive. >> Andre >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Don Marang" <[email protected]> >> To: <[email protected]> >> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 7:00 PM >> Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux >> >> >> I use Vinux. They just announced Vinux 3.1, based on the latest Ubuntu >> 10.1. It is available free at vinux.org.uk and it's mirrors. You can >> download either the CD or DVD ISO files and burn to a disk. There is now >> a >> Quick Start Guide on the web site and the DVD edition. Just insert the >> disk >> and startup the computer. It can perform as a full featured Linux >> Operating >> System from the disk. This works well for emergency situations and also >> lets you test drive Linux. Of course, installing Vinux on a USB Flash >> drive, Virtual Machine, or on your hard drive will provide increasingly >> better performance. >> >> Everything is accessible from the start in terms of boot, login and >> installation. Vinux uses the Orca screen reader in the gnome desktop, >> SpeakUp when in one of the consoles, 2 magnifiers, and even a backup >> screen >> reader. Most of the gnome gtk applications are accessible to some >> extent. >> Applications like gimp. a drawing program, is not very accessible. >> Thunderbird works well and Firefox is the default browser. To me, the >> current version of Firefox seems sluggish with Orca right now. This is >> one >> area that needs work. There are even text only browsers like links, that >> are very responsive. Of course, most command line and emacs applications >> are accessible. >> >> Give it a test drive, it is free, powerful, and although not perfect, it >> is >> rapidly improving and we have the source to fix issues. >> >> Don Marang >> >> There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any >> real >> substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am >> working >> on things that matter. >> Dean Kamen >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------- >> From: "Arianna" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 3:48 PM >> To: <[email protected]> >> Subject: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux >> >>> `I am aware that some blind people are using Linux, so if any of you >>> Linux >>> users could answer some of my questions, I'd be grateful. >>> >>> What applications can be used with Linux? What is the name of the >>> screenreader that works with it? Does it have an internet browser, an >>> email program? >>> >>> Thanks for any help. >>> >>> Arianna >>> For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: >>> http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ >>> >> >> For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: >> http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ >> >> >> For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: >> http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ >> > > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: > http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ > > > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: > http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
